The Middle
by motherfuckingfox
Summary: In 2015 Nuclear war nearly destroyed the world. 100 years on, in the new system, children are labelled as a Brawn or a Brain at 14, and are separated by a world of monsters. What circumstances must occur to unite Brain Bella and Brawn Edward? Can their undeniable love overcome the hatred they're taught to have to one another, and save their lives? Nobody's safe in The Middle...
1. The Crash

**A/N Hey! This is a new and totally abstract idea for me, I don't usually do this genre so bear with if I muck it up sometimes (constructive criticism does wonders). I've planned out five chapters already but I'm mostly wondering what you guys would like to see develop in this story, so I'd love to get a few reviews from this first chapter. Just a quick thing, this story is set in the future, like 100 from the present time: so characters born in like 1980 were actually born in 2080. Get it? I really hope you enjoy, I certainly enjoyed writing it :) Read, review, thanks!**

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_Nuclear war destroyed the world in 2015. The remaining humans split up to live in the North and South Poles. The rest of Earth has merged into one huge landmass filled with radiation-mutated lethal animals, The Middle, save for one island: Prima, where everyone is born and raised until they are 14. At this age they are evaluated and labeled either Brawn or Brain. Brains are sent to the North to learn how to advance their society in school for 3 years, and Brawns are sent to the South to train for 3 years to protect the Brains during their research missions to The Middle._

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*****Bella POV*****

I sat in the absurdly comfortable leather seat, twiddling my thumbs and repressing the constant urge to sigh.

_I hate shuttle travel, _I thought to myself, as my eyes scanned the pod yet again, as I had done so many times since entering it approximately 76 minutes ago. Of course, shuttle flight is so smooth that to a passenger, it feels as if you are not in fact moving. I knew otherwise. I could not overlook the fact that we were currently 50,000 feet above the most dangerous part of the Earth, The Middle. I could not overlook the fact that of the 600 minutes I would be in this shuttle, 90% of that time would be spent flying over The Middle.

I was a Brain, the top of my class. 17 years of age and newly graduated from Level 3, I was the student selected to travel to the South and attend their school. I was one of the few who were chosen to graduate from both schools, Brain and Brawn, to become what we know as an 'A Squad Member'. I would also be seeing my father for the first time ever.

There are two ways children are born into our world: A normal couple on their Pole meet and conceive a child, whether it be in "love" or because they believe they would produce a successful offspring together. If this is the case, which for me it was, the mother is sent to Prima, the only land aside from the Poles that is not part of The Middle. Here, the child is born, the mother leaves back to her Pole, and the child is raised. The other way is through the schools: Each year when the Level 3s from both Poles graduate, they are ranked from highest to lowest. The lowest ranking girl and boy from each school are sent to Prima to re-produce, and spend the rest of their lives raising the Children of Prima, passing on the knowledge they have for the Children's Evaluation at 14. The children of these low-rankers get to grow up with their parents. The "successful offspring" do not, and only meet their parents once at the age of 7 - halfway between their birth and their evaluation.

This would all be swell, except when I turned seven years of age, I was told that my parents would not come to visit me. My father had no interest in meeting his daughter, and forbade my mother from coming anywhere near me.

So considering my father impregnated my mother, sent her to Prima to give birth to me, summoned her back to him after I was born and refused to allow her to come to greet me on my seventh birthday, I wasn't all that excited to spend the next 3 years in school with him as my teacher.

My father is First General Charles Geoffrey Swan, A Squad Member as of 2074 and Chief of the South Pole. Charged with any and all decisions made on or regarding the South Pole and travel in and out of the South Pole. Widely known for receiving 98% excellence on both of his Level 3 evaluations (the highest scores anyone has ever received) and being a Grade-A pain in the ass. I had a feeling that just because I was his daughter, I would not be pardoned from his ass-hole tendencies.

Just then, the clearing of someone's throat popped my little bubble of brooding. I looked up from my persistently twiddling thumbs and saw a Brawn Soldier, standing perfectly straight and looking ahead intently. I wouldn't even have thought he was addressing me if he hadn't spoken the very second after he captured my attention.

"Ma'am," he said, his voice unwavering and no more polite than was necessary, "Your dinner is ready."

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*****Edward POV*****

"Your dinner is ready," I announced stiffly. Born and bred to be a Brawn, I had a natural hatred for the Brains, for their stuck-up attitudes and perfectly pampered lifestyles. They snap their fingers, and a group of perfectly respectable Brawns are ordered to sacrifice their own lives to save the Brain. It is disgusting.

This particular Brain was at the top of my list. Isabella Marie Swan, daughter of First General Asshole Swan, my boss. Little girl was taking after her dear father and on her way to becoming an A Squad Member. It was particularly annoying to be part of her security detail, because five of us Brawns were drafted to fly up to the North and accompany Prissy Bitch back down to the South. Shuttles are small places, with a cockpit and a hallway and the "pod"; a perfectly oxygenated and temperature-controlled egg where the passenger stays, that can be released from the rest of the shuttle if necessary. Most A Squad Member's are drafted two Brawns as their security detail at most. Why this little girl needed 5 was beyond me, I pegged it to be because her father was General Asshole. Because Prissy Bitch was drafted five Brawns, that meant all five of us had to fit in the narrow hallway outside of her pod. It was a tight squeeze to fit us all, and I was thankful to be the one that had to stand guard in the Pod, giving me more space. Of course that did mean I had to endure watching the Prissy Bitch eat her five-star meal while I stood in perfect salute.

Not wanting any unnecessary interaction with her, I kept my head up and my eyes straight ahead, looking away from my chosen spot on the pristine white wall in front of me only to set the tray of food down on the small table.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," a bell-like, melodic voice answered that made the breath catch in the back of my throat. With such a beautiful, perfect voice, daring a glance at the woman I harbored such a hatred for was an inevitability. Cautiously, carefully, my eyes darted to the left to sneak a peak.

The gasp that escaped my throat was completely forgotten in the wake of her beauty.

A small, petite woman sat before me, her frame resting peacefully in the small chair with plenty of space. Perfect curves graced her body, filling her out and making her appear sexy as well as cute. Her little, delicate hands sat daintily in her lap, thumbs repeatedly circling each other in a fast-paced dance. Her long mahogany hair was pulled back into a perfect ponytail, and cascaded down her back in sleek, graceful waves. Her skin was creamy and flawless, that made her slender neck look even longer. Plump, full lips the colour of raspberries and cheeks that flared up with a faint, modest pinky blush. But what really captivated me was her eyes. Wide, sharp orbs of chocolate brown that absorbed all of the bad in the world and made you feel warm and safe.

It wasn't until I observed her arched eyebrow that I realized she had caught me staring. I swore to myself and quickly looked away. I barely heard the little snicker that Isabella let loose, and reminded myself that even though she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, she was still a a Prissy Bitch.

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*****Pilot POV*****

"Captain, what does this warning mean?" My recently graduated assisting pilot asked. I smiled, reminiscing on my training days. I wheeled my chair over to his side of the cockpit and scanned the screen.

My heart dropped.

_ATTENTION: Solar Disruption - Stage 5_

"Shit. Kid, strap up and cut the power on every service we do not absolutely need," I muttered, wheeling back over to my own side and rapidly typing. I broadcasted an emergency beacon.

"This is Shuttle NTS-2104-107 requesting immediate assistance over Sector M10. We have been struck by Stage 5 Solar Disruption, repeat Stage 5 Solar Disruption over Sector M10, requesting immed-" The broadcast function powered off. Instinctively, I released the pod to send the Brain girl towards the coast, but without the full power needed to get her there. She'd land about 100 miles inland from the coast. Her landing would be smooth enough that she wouldn't be injured enough to not be able to make it to the coast and hold up until help arrived. She would survive her landing, and we would not.

_God help us_, I thought just as the engines shut off and we plummeted.

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**A/N I love reviews. (who doesn't?) But seriously, review me in guest or online (I don't care which to be perfectly honest) and tell me what you think I'm doing right/wrong and what you want to happen. Do we like E/B? What kind of horrific mutated creatures will we find in The Middle? A story is nothing without readers. Thanks :)**

**-Lyndsey**


	2. Bombs and Bella

**A/N Here's chapter two! Thanks for all the encouraging reviews, they're really uplifting, but let's try for some more ideas! I wanna know what you guys want from the story, like what kind of absolutely lethal animal mutants can you think up? I trust you to be creative ;) read, review, enjoy!**

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_Previously:_

_She'd land about 100 miles inland from the coast. Her landing would be smooth enough that she wouldn't be injured enough to not be able to make it to the coast and hold up until help arrived. She would survive her landing, and we would not._

_God help us, I thought just as the engines shut off and we plummeted_.

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*****Edward POV*****

_Chirp..._

_Chirp..._

_Chirp..._

The ever-persistent chirping of some nearby thing was what woke me up. At first, I was very disoriented for three reasons. 1) Bugs do not live in the South Pole so how can thing annoying little chirpy thing possibly be alive and 2) trees don't live in the South Pole either so what the hell is a tree doing hanging over my head, which finally led to 3) shit. We crashed.

As soon as I realized where I was, I jumped up very quickly, and assessed myself. _Flesh wound, above ankle to knee, few inches deep, non-fatal. Splinter in shoulder, penetrating trapezius muscle, non-fatal. Itchy hand, dead arm, nerve damage? No, leech bite, SHIT! _

I could already feel the toxins from the bite of the small parasite seeping into my bloodstream, making me drowsy. I ripped the small wormlike creature off of my palm and threw it away, before scanning the area around me. I had been in the Pod when we crashed. What was in the Pod?

I could feel my head start to spin...

_Edward! Snap out of it! _I chastised myself, and tried to remember each detail of the Pod. A chair, a table. A toilet stall, a window, and an emergency pack.

An emergency pack with medical supplies. I immediately spotted it a few feet away, and rushed to open it, my hands shaking and my vision beginning to blur. Fumbling, I grabbed the anti-toxin shot, and stuck myself directly over my heart.

It felt like injecting a coffee shot directly to my brain. I shivered at the electric feel to it. When the world stopped spinning and my vision was clear once again, I slowly pried the splinter out of my shoulder and ensured there were no more injuries.

_Okay, medical assessment done. What now? _I thought. Clearly, we had crashed mid-flight over The Middle. The Middle, the most dangerous place on earth. The Middle, the last place we wanted to be.

I looked around me to assess the wreckage. Around me were the pieces of the Pod, that had impacted and shattered. I saw no debris from the main hull of the shuttle, and realized that before we had began descent, the captain must have ejected the Pod from the shuttle, to send us off some other direction. The direction of the coast, I realized, so we could make it to sea and beacon for help. I looked down to the multi-function micro-computer on my wrist, and tapped the screen a few times to check that it still worked. Nothing appeared, and I cursed under my breath. We would have to navigate manually.

We.

Where was Isabella?

A further assessment of the wreckage, and I could just barely make out a shoe sticking out from under a large side of the Pod. I walked over and pushed the debris away, to be met with a heart-wrenching sight.

Isabella lay there unconscious, blood dribbling down her cheek from a gash above her eyebrow. Her arms were sprawled out beside her, and she was covered in dirt, but that wasn't what caught the breath in the back of my throat. Jutting out of her lower abdomen, right about where her appendix would be, was a large metal shard. I knelt down to her and felt for a heartbeat. Faint, yet steady, she was alive.

"Isabella," I said quietly, shaking her shoulder ever so gently with no response. I was about to try again when a faint beeping sound captured my attention. Nearby, where a medium-sized piece of debris lay that. I identified as another piece of the Pod wall, a small device was attached. I went closer to look. It had a clock and a button, and a flashing red LED. When I realized the clock was counting backwards, and had just reached 20, I cursed.

It was a bomb.

I grabbed the emergency pack and slung it onto my back, and darted back over to Isabella. I hoisted her over my shoulder, trying to keep in mind the fact that she had been impaled by a piece of metal and would probably not appreciate any further movement in that area. Once she was secure, I did the one thing I knew to do.

I ran like hell.

We were only 15 or so feet away when it detonated, but it was enough that the blast only sent a heat wave in our direction. The device was not meant to destroy, only to damage. This posed an interesting question in my mind: why was there a bomb on the side of the shuttle?

This was a question for a later time. Right now, I realized that the sun was not rising into the sky, but rather coming down from it. It was afternoon, and soon it would be night time, and we'd be dealing with darkness and the cold and the incredibly dangerous predators that lived here. I needed to find somewhere safe for us to spend the night. Carefully, I put Isabella down and sighed. Even unconscious she was a sight for sore eyes.

Her specially constructed "second-skin" suit wasn't helping anything. The suit was a standard attire for any Brawn female student, and was specifically designed to assist any human who may be stranded in the middle. It was water-proof and fire-proof, withstood the cold, changed color to match the surroundings but neutrally set to a navy blue, and made of special elastic that fit to the body like a second-skin, allowing for free movement of limbs. During shuttle travel most people opted for track pants and a sweatshirt for comfort, and I was very glad Isabella had decided to wear hers, and I was required to wear mine. At the same time, the suit highlighted Isabella's nicely filled out body. Her curves were unintentionally accentuated, showing off her toned arm and leg muscles as well as her breasts and her hips. I forced myself to tear my eyes away, and set to work with a sigh.

This was going to be a long night.

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**A/N Bow chicka wow WOW. Edward being all voyeuristic on Bella. He can't hate her when she's asleep right? :D**

**Still no Bella POV post crash, and no lethal animal attacks yet - only the pesky parasite. What will the night bring? What will Bella think of this situation when she wakes up? So many questions! Want answers? REVIEW THEN (: the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write chapters.**

**Hope you enjoyed. Let me know of any crazy cool ideas you got, I'd LOVE to hear them :)**

**-Lyndsey**


	3. Stolen Appendixes and Hopelessness

**A/N I'm seeing a lot of traffic on the story (which is great) and a few follows, but no reviews :( makes me wonder if y'all are enjoying this story...?**

**Anyway, chapter three hot off the press. Read, review, recommend me to your friends. Also, I'd love it if any bores betas out there would like to hop on the Middle? Shoot me a message if you're interested. Enjoy the story!**

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_Previously:_

_During shuttle travel most people opted for track pants and a sweatshirt for comfort, and I was very glad Isabella had decided to wear hers, and I was required to wear mine. At the same time, the suit highlighted Isabella's nicely filled out body. Her curves were unintentionally accentuated, showing off her toned arm and leg muscles as well as her breasts and her hips. I forced myself to tear my eyes away, and set to work with a sigh._

_This was going to be a long night._

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*****Bella POV*****

I woke up to an undescribably painful headache, as well as an overwhelming disoriented feeling. Slowly, I opened my eyes. I was lying on the ground, under a sheet of orange tarpaulin that I instantly recognized as the tent from the emergency pack of a Pod.

It was this little observation that reminded me of the crash. Since I did not remember constructing the tent, I was not the only survivor of the crash. I tried, and failed, to sit up. I had been wrapped in layer after layer of sleeping bags, jumpers, jackets and blankets, all tied together by a belt that had been fastened around my waist. With fumbling hands I tried to undo the belt, but the rattling of the metal alerted someone outside. The tent door opened, and the beautiful bronze-haired boy from my security detail crawled in.

"Don't undo that belt, Christ's sake! Took me way too long to do it up in the first place," He cried out, stilling my hands with his own. I jerked my hands away quickly and looked up at him, utterly confused and a little shocked that he had actually touched me. He realized my prejudice and withdrew his hands, looking a little exasperated. Brawns and Brains don't make contact with one another, unless it was a life-or-death situation.

"We crashed. You lost a lot of blood and your temperature read 90°F and you were shaking like crazy so I wrapped you up in all that," he shrugged. I looked at him again, questioningly.

"I took your temperature about an hour ago. You were reading at just below 98° and I wanted to wait a little while before I unwrapped you,"

"Where-" I was about to ask, but he interrupted me.

"In the middle of The Middle, I'm afraid. I set up camp," He informed me with a smirk, and I arched an eyebrow.

"No, there is no benefit in our current position, we are vulnerable. We will move out at first light towards the coast, sooner if at all possible," I retorted firmly. He grimaced.

"Miss Swan, I'd be happy to do so, but it isn't me holding us back," he said slowly. What had he said before? I'd lost a lot of blood...

As if the sheer thought had alerted my body, I was suddenly very conscious of a numb feeling in my lower abdomen. I looked down, but couldn't see anything due to the layers.

"You had a piece of debris sticking right out of your appendix. Don't worry, I got rid of it," he declared with a grin, and I just about choked on my own breath.

"Please clarify whether you removed the debris or removed my appendix?" I squeaked out, not at all expecting the answer I received.

"Both," he laughed, and I felt as if I would faint. This man, this _Brawn, _removed my appendix. He had his hands inside my body, and removed a piece of me.

"Hold your horses, you'll be fine without it, your body doesn't need it to function," he said in an attempt to comfort me. I still felt very faint.

"Brief me on the situation please," I said, wanting desperately to talk about anything _but _his impromptu surgery.

"Well,I believe the shuttle was hit by a surge of solar power caused by a storm in the thermosphere, so it must've been a stage five disruption if it could crash the engine of the shuttle from so far away. When the captain realized what would happen he shut off all the useless functions, like the navigator and auto-router, hoping that if we ran on a small enough amount of power, the surge would just sorta skip over us. When it didn't and the shuttle failed, the captain ejected us from the hull to send us towards the coast so we wouldn't be stranded in The Middle. But he didn't realize that without auto-navigation, we would be thrown off in a total random direction. So we got thrown inland, and we are now just over 500 miles from the south-western M10 coastal marker," he said, practically all on one breath. Despite his lazy southern speak, I was almost impressed at his analysis. Usually Brawns were incredibly stupid.

"500 miles," I repeated, and cursed inwardly. "What do we have by way of rations?"

"Only the emergency pack that was in the Pod. It's mostly stuffed with tubes of ProFro," he said, and my brow furrowed.

"You may know that up in the North we are not familiar with your Southern colloquialisms of common things. Therefore when you speak of this 'ProFro' I do not understand," I said slowly, and he laughed. An honest-to-goodness laugh.

"You don't understand because you haven't heard of it, why would you need to up in the North? ProFro is a kind of food that comes in a tube, like toothpaste. It's tasteless and odorless but it does the same shit as regular food." He explained.

"By 'same shit' I assume you mean it provides the nutrients required to maintain a healthy and functioning body?" I sighed. The imbecile was already wearing my patience thin.

He seemed to realise this, because he suddenly dropped his light attitude and snapped at me.

"Look, Isabella, I can think of a thousand different things I'd rather be doing than baby-sitting your handicapped, privileged ass. I'm no happier about this situation than you are, but I'm not huffing and puffing like it's the end of the world, am I? So quit the shit or you'll find out the hard way that staying alive on your own right now is practically impossible. I signed an agreement to protect you, I'm your security detail, and I'll be god-damned if some stupid solar disruption gets in the way of that. So I'd appreciate it if you let me do my job, in peace, without acting like I'm the most repulsive being on the planet. Is that okay with you?" He demanded, looking at me with his big green eyes. I nodded meekly, a little shocked at his outburst.

"Fantastic, thanks," he snapped, and left the tent just as suddenly as he had arrived.

I couldn't batten down the womanly urge to admire his beautifully sculpted backside as he left.

_What the fuck kind of thinking is that?! You're in the middle of the fucking Middle, and you're thinking about your bodyguard's ass? _My inner voice, the voice of Isabella, chastside me sharply. I shook my head. Now was not the time to be thinking of sex.

Okay, what had he said? We were 500miles from the nearest coast, and had only "FroPro" as sustenance. With my injury, we could only travel maybe 20 miles each day if we were lucky. That left us at taking nearly 20 days to reach the coast. It was too long, the North Council would have pronounced us MIA by now and after 14 days we'd be officially KIA. Nobody lasted more than two weeks in The Middle. I sighed, realizing just how much trouble we would be in if we were left here, supposedly KIA. Then it might really be the end of our worlds, as Mr Cranky-Pants put it.

Could this situation get any worse?

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**A/N. You tell me, could the situation get worse? Next chapter will be a sneaky peek at those lethal mutants... If y'all share ideas with me! And bump up the reviews a little, I want 10 before I post the next chapter.**

**-Lyndsey**


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